Shared and unique contributions of anger, anxiety, and depression to coronary heart disease: a prospective study in the normative aging study

Anger, anxiety, and depression have each been identified as risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). Whether the apparent risk is a function of unique aspects of each emotion or due to a shared underlying dimension of negative affectivity is unclear. The goal of this study was to assess shared...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of behavioral medicine 2006-02, Vol.31 (1), p.21-29
Main Authors: Kubzansky, Laura D, Cole, Stephen R, Kawachi, Ichiro, Vokonas, Pantel, Sparrow, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - physiology
Anger
Anxiety
Anxiety - epidemiology
Anxiety - psychology
Cardiovascular disease
Coronary Disease - epidemiology
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - psychology
Emotions
Health psychology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Anger, anxiety, and depression have each been identified as risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). Whether the apparent risk is a function of unique aspects of each emotion or due to a shared underlying dimension of negative affectivity is unclear. The goal of this study was to assess shared and unique contributions of anger, anxiety, and depression to incident CHD. Data are from the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, an ongoing cohort of older men. Measures of anger, anxiety, and depression were obtained from 1,306 men completing the revised Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory in 1986. From these measures we derived three near-orthogonal scales termed iso(lated)-anger, iso-anxiety, and iso-depression and a fourth scale measuring general distress. During an average of 10.9 years of follow-up, 161 cases of incident CHD occurred. When considered individually, iso-anxiety, iso-anger, and shared general distress were each associated with CHD risk. When all emotions were considered simultaneously, only iso-anxiety and shared general distress were associated with incident CHD. Considering shared versus unique aspects of negative emotions may clarify the nature of their apparent toxicity in relation to CHD risk. General distress shared across negative emotions is an important component in the emotion-CHD relation. Aspects of anxiety may also independently increase CHD risk.
ISSN:0883-6612
1532-4796
DOI:10.1207/s15324796abm3101_5